A.J. CALLED!

Yesterday was "Doolie Day Out". It is the one day in all 5 weeks of Basic Training that the cadet is taken off campus, given a chance to relax and call home. It is the half way point of basic training and the transition day from, as they call it, Beast 1 to Beast 2. Beast 1 is spent entirely on campus. The cadets learn the ropes and are issued all their uniforms and military gear. Basically, they are being acclimated to the Academy. Beast 2 is a 2+ week camping trip. They left this morning, very early, on a march into Jack's Valley. For the next 2 weeks they spend the entire time living in tents and doing numerous team building and other activities. It is said that it is much more fun than Beast 1. And I predict A.J. will enjoy it immensely.

Well yesterday A.J. did call. We knew the "day out" started at 8AM, our time, but we didn't know when we would get our phone call. We also knew A.J. was being hosted by the head football coach, Coach Calhoun, but we didn't know any more than that. Dave and I waited and waited and finally at about 10:45AM he called. Oh, it was so great to hear his voice. We had prepared a long list of question beforehand so we wouldn't forget anything. First and foremost he said he was doing great. He was enjoying it, best he could, and knows he made the right decision. That is all I really needed to hear, the rest was just gravy. All and all, in the course of 2 phone calls, we spoke to A.J. for about 40 minutes.

Here are a few of the highlights.....

1. His roommate is on a 4 year exchange program from Singapore. He is already a 2nd lieutenant in the Singapore Air Force. They get along great and will remain roommates for the remainder of the year. His roommate helps him out tremendously because he already knows the ropes. His name is Ed.

2. A.J. is the largest boy in his class of 1300+ students. He is the largest in weight but not height. It came in handy the day before when they had FIELD DAY and his team killed in the tug-o-war. He was the anchor and no "war" lasted more than 15 seconds.

3. So far he has lost 9lbs. He is not worried about it, yet. The food is not great but is managing to eat and keep in down. He is given ENSURE to drink to help maintain his weight but he says it is horrible so he doesn't drink it much.

4. He did well on his math placement exam and was happy about that.

5. He was lifting with the football team about every other day but that will stop during Beast 2. He was lifting well and was happy with how he was progressing.

6. He enjoys getting our letters and hopes we will all continue writing. He says not to include any pictures as they will be taken but copy and paste them right on to your paper and he will be able to keep those.

Here is a picture taken on SATURDAY....

He tells us he is not allowed to smile, hence the straight face.